Cold claims 22 lives in North

New Delhi, Jan 4, 2013, (PTI):

Intense cold claimed 22 lives in North India today as temperatures plummeted to sub-zero levels at many places in the region.

The capital Delhi recorded the season's lowest minimum of 2.7 degrees Celsius. The maximum temperature recorded in the city was 15.7 degrees Celsius. Seven people were killed due to the cold in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh where the mercury dipped three notches below normal in most places.

While five persons lost their lives in Bathinda district of Punjab due to the cold wave, two were killed in Fatehabad district of Haryana in the past 24 hours. Chandigarh with a low of 3.4 degrees Celsius recorded the lowest minimum temperature in the ongoing winter season, the MeT office said here.

Intense cold tightened its grip across Kashmir Valley as minimum temperatures plunged further with summer capital Srinagar witnessing the coldest night of the season at minus 4.3 degrees Celsius.

The minimum temperature recorded in Srinagar was down from minus 4.0 degrees Celsius recorded yesterday, making it the coldest night of the season so far. Kargil, in the frontier region of Ladakh, was the coldest recorded place in the state with a low of minus 16.2 degrees Celsius, while the nearby Leh town recorded a low of minus 14.2 degree Celsius, up from yesterday's minus 16.0 degrees Celsius.

The famous skiing resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir, shivered at a minimum temperature of minus 10.2 degrees Celsius, 1.2 degrees down from yesterday's 9 degree Celsius.

Pahalgam hill resort in south Kashmir, which also serves as the base camp during the annual Amarnath yatra recorded a low of minus 7.0 degrees Celsius.